


Rien Ne Va Plus!

by Macx



Category: Real Ghostbusters, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Crossover, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-14
Updated: 2011-07-14
Packaged: 2017-10-21 09:45:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/223812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Macx/pseuds/Macx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peter, Egon, Gambit and Rogue end up trapped in a world where nothing is as it seems, and they are mere pawns in a deadly game. While their friends at home try to find a way to get them back, all they have to do is survive...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rien Ne Va Plus!

**Author's Note:**

> the story was written throughout my Ghostbuster phase in the mid-nineties and published in the fanzine 555-BUST #1

It was very quiet at Ghostbuster Central. This was due to the absence of two of the four resident Ghostbusters. Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore had taken off to some kind of Star Trek convention in Chicago. It had been Ray's idea to go and he had convinced Winston to come along. The other half of the quartet was spread out over the two upper floors of the old firehouse. Egon Spengler was studying several new experiments in his lab, while Peter sat in front of the TV, a bowl of popcorn at his side. All in all it promised to be a quiet, relaxing day. Well, it promised that until 13.54 p.m.  
Peter was just waiting for that lovely news reader to appear when a loud explosion shook the old building all the way down to the foundations. The psychologist was off the couch in a second. The popcorn bowl hit the floor with a soft 'klonk', spreading the popcorn nicely on the carpet.  
The lab! The explosion had been on the floor above, that much was immediately clear to Peter. And there was only one room where such an explosion could possibly happen: Egon's lab. Peter ran up the stairs to the third floor, feeling a slight panic rising inside of him as he saw thick columns of smoke curling out from under the lab's door. The door itself had been half blown off the hinges and hang in a precarious state.  
"Egon!" Peter ripped the remainders of the door out of the last hinge and nearly choked as smoke drifted up to him. He couldn't see a thing but the smoke was clearing rapidly. No fire. Good. "Egon!" he repeated and heard the panic in his voice. Okay, Peter, keep calm.  
From somewhere he heard a soft moan and he thought he could see some movement.  
"Egon? Can you hear me? Where are you?"  
The smoke dissipated rapidly now and Peter had a first good look at the damage. The lab was in ruins. That was nothing new. Where there had once been a table stacked with rows of Egon's experiments there was simply one big, black, gaping hole. The remnants of the table spread graciously over the lab, mixing with glass and scorched paper. In one corner a battered and half molten piece of metal stuck in the wall. Peter heard glass splinter under his boots. Again he heard a soft moan. Then he finally saw his friend and colleague.  
Egon Spengler had been thrown against the other side of the lab. His formerly white lab coat was a grey-brown something which stuck to him because the shoulder pieces where still intact. Peter was at his side in no time. His stomach seemed to be an icy knot of fear. He helped him up into a sitting position and studied him worriedly. Egon seemed unharmed. There were some bruises on one side of his face and a small cut above his right cheekbone. He blinked at Peter and the psychologist automatically straightened the glasses.  
"Egon? Everything okay?" he asked worriedly.  
Egon blinked again and tried to stand up. Peter helped him, brushing some dust off the former lab coat.  
"Peter." Egon looked around. To Peter he seemed alert and responsive and in no danger to topple over, so he let go. "What happened?"  
"You're asking me?" There was a hint of relief in the other man's voice. "I sit peacefully in front of the TV, waiting for that wonderful and gorgeous woman to make her daily news report, when half the house blows up around me! And now you're asking me what's happened?! It's your lab, Egon! You're the great wizard of the odd around here! Which one of your experiments went wild this time?"  
"None of my experiments 'went wild', as you like to put it, Peter," Egon reproached him. "I was busy analyzing the latest data from our last bust when suddenly the wall seemed to explode."  
"Egon, I'm sorry to tell you the terrible, merciless truth, but walls don't just explode like that."  
Egon ignored the sarcasm and went over to the black hole in the wall. "Fascinating."  
"What, oh master of science?" Peter stepped up to him. He was more than relieved to see that Egon didn't seem to be suffering from any aftereffects concerning his date with the wall of the lab.  
"This burned part of the wall is a perfect circle."  
Peter looked at the black hole. Egon was right. There was a perfect circle burned into the wall. No edges, no irregularities. And it was pitch black, not the black you get when something burns; a deeper black, a blacker black. Strange. He turned to Egon and discovered that the physicist was holding a P.K.E. meter The meter gave a few shrill sounds as the psychokinetic energy nearly overloaded it. Egon turned it off quickly.  
"Fascinating," he repeated.  
"Okay, and now for the rest of humanity, Dr. Spengler?"  
"That's no normal burn mark, Peter. It didn't even appear through a normal fire. Following the readings energy is streaming out of this wall; an energy you normally find when creating dimensional gateways."  
"And you still want to tell me it's none of you experiments?" Peter asked sarcastically. It was like Egon to create a dimensional gateway even when just repairing a toaster.  
Egon didn't give him an answer but stepped closer to the gateway. He stretched out one hand to touch it as Peter caught his wrist.  
"Are you crazy?!" the psychologist asked. "No! No, don't answer that," he continued, shaking his head.  
"Peter," Egon said, gently freeing his arm from Peter's grip, "the gate is completely harmless. The energy coming from the gate suggests it is inactive."  
Peter wanted to say something when the former black burn mark started to glow in a greenish blue light. It pulsed and stretched out, enveloping the whole room. A strong wind pushed them towards the gate.  
"What the ...?"  
He was unable to say any more. Something pushed him into the gate. He thought he heard someone scream, then he heard nothing at all. Blackness engulfed him.

* * *

Remy LeBeau, better known by the name Gambit, evaded another attack and, with his bo-staff, destroyed three of the laser units at the ceiling. Suddenly something grabbed his ankle and he lost his balance, slamming onto the hard surface. Surprised, he rolled onto his back and saw a viscous looking machine behind him. It had several tentacles and of them had snaked around his leg. The machine, who looked like an oversized shredder, pulled him towards it. A cold smile passed over his lips as he lifted two cards he had pulled out of his overcoat. The cards started to glow in an orange light. Gambit threw the cards directly at the shredder machine and as the kinetic energy stored inside the cards touched the machine it burst into hundreds of small parts. He stood up, brushing non-existent dust off his shoulders.  
"Computer, terminate training sequence 'Wolverine Three'."  
"Terminated," the bodiless voice of the computer acknowledged.  
"Already enough, shugah?"  
Gambit turned as he heard the female voice. In the doorway to the danger room stood a young, red-haired woman, dressed in a yellow-and-green suit. There was a striking, white streak in her hair.  
"Not at all, ma chere," he answered with a smile. "I just thought it would be nice to have a partner."  
Rogue returned the smile. "Are yuh afraid yuh can't go through with Wolverine's training sequence number four?"  
"But no, Rogue. Why have all de fun when you can share it with such a beauty?"  
Rogue gave a snort, but couldn't help feeling very warm inside - as always when she was alone with Gambit. Their relationship was still missing a clear definition. She knew she loved Gambit and she knew he returned that feeling. But between them stood Rogue's mutant abilities. She was able to temporarily absorb another person's memories, powers and personality when she came in direct contact with him or her, and that meant skin contact. That was the reason why she was clad in a special suit, complete with gloves. Just one touch and she would absorb Gambit's power, leaving him unconscious and drained, if not worse. It had happened once and she didn't want to try it again. He had the ability to charge small objects with kinetic energy and throw them wherever he wanted them to go with a superhuman accuracy. On contact, the object exploded, setting free the energy it had stored. Gambit had mastered his mutant abilities to the point he could even built in a time fuse.  
Gambit snaked one arm around Rogue and pulled her close. "What do you think o' a rendezvous, chere?"  
Rogue raised both eyebrows. "Here? In the danger room?"  
"Why not? All de others are gone. We are all alone ...." Gambit bent forward to kiss her.  
Rogue placed a hand on his lips. "Remy, no."  
Gambit sighed silently, taking the hand and placing a kiss on its back. Suddenly the ground seemed to shake.  
"What de ...?" He let go of Rogue and looked round.  
"Gambit! There!" Rogue pointed at something behind his back.  
Gambit frowned as he discovered the black thing that had suddenly appeared on one wall of the danger room. He stepped closer, curious. He was only a few feet away as the black thing started to glow and pulse in an orange light. He stopped, but was pushed forward by a sudden storm. He couldn't prevent himself from coming closer to the black hole.  
"Gambit!" Rogue's cry was drowned by the howling storm. She tried to grab Gambit's hand but failed. He fell into the black hole. "NO!"  
With horror Gambit saw Rogue following him as she tried to catch him. Then everything blacked out around him.

* * *

Peter Venkman felt like run over by a bunch of trucks. Heavy trucks with trailers. His whole body was hurting and a horde of dwarfs seemed to tap-dance inside his head. He blinked and sat up with a groan. The sudden change from horizontal to vertical roused a nauseous feeling. His stomach wanted to turn inside out and the dancing inside his head rose to a crescendo. He inhaled deeply and felt the nausea fade. After some time he was able to tell his right hand from his left foot. His headache faded too, but didn't disappear completely. He leaned back against the wall behind him and looked round. Wherever he was it definitely wasn't New York.  
He was in some kind of street. Old newspapers and garbage of undefined origin littered the ground. The buildings on both sides where old and lay in ruins. A lot of house entrances were nailed shut and burned out wreckages of cars and vans blocked the pavement. And everything was eerily silent.  
Peter got up slowly. Everything around him looked the same grey and black. There were no lighter colors. Even the sky had a slate grey color and it smelled like rain. As if somebody had read his mind it started to rain. Suddenly Peter remembered Egon. He searched the street with his eyes for any signs of his blond colleague, but was unable to find him. He pushed away from the wall and started down the empty, lonely street. He had gone only a few meters when he saw movement. Close to an entrance lay a heap of papers and other old stuff. And the heap moved. Peter froze. Someone moaned and a human hand appeared from inside the heap.  
"Egon?!"  
Peter ran over to the heap, starting to uncover the human form. But the man he found wasn't Egon. He didn't even have the slightest resemblance to the blond physicist. The man had light brown, slightly reddish hair and was wearing a strange suit which reminded Peter of a diver's suit. It was colored in black, pink and blue. A brown overcoat covered most of it. The man groaned again and opened his eyes. Peter made in involuntary step back. The man had black eyes with red pupils!  
"Who the hell are you?" he asked, instinctively searching for some kind of weapon. The only suitable weapon he saw was a broken off piece of wood from the laths that covered the entrance.  
The man sat up, dazed, and rubbed his head. "And who a' you?" he questioned Peter in return. The psychologist recognized the French accent.  
"I asked first, mister."  
"De name's Gambit," the man with the strange eyes said. He stepped out of the garbage heap and brushed off his coat. "Your turn."  
"Peter Venkman," Peter introduced himself, moving away from the other man. He tried to get as much distance from him as possible.  
"And where am I?" Gambit asked and looked round.  
"That's something I'd like to know, too," Peter murmured.  
Gambit frowned and looked round. "Somebody else 'ere?"  
"Yeah, you for instance," Peter remarked dryly. "You expecting someone?"  
"You seem to, Mr. Venkman. Who is dis Egon?"  
Peter was surprised the man remembered the name Peter had addressed him with. "Egon is a friend of mine."  
"Who came 'ere, too, n'est pa?"  
"I don't know."  
"Well, I hope dat - if he is 'ere - he didn't encounter dem."  
Peter followed Gambits gaze and froze. Three humanoid looking creatures had appeared, wearing some kind of knight's armor. All three were armed with a battle ax and looked really, really nasty. Out of thin air a horse appeared under one of the three. It was armored, too. While the horseman stared at Gambit and Peter from horseback the other two advanced. With every step they took Peter noticed the street pattern changing. It looked like a chess board now.  
"Stay here!" Gambit ordered and stepped in front of the Ghostbuster.  
Peter wanted to protest that he was very well able to defend himself when Gambit pulled three cards out of his pocket.  
"What do you want to do? Invite them to a game of poker?" Peter asked sarcastically.  
Suddenly the cards started to glow and with them Gambit's hand. He threw the cards towards the two humanoids who had advanced dangerously. One was hit full in the chest and went down. Before he hit the street he vanished into thin air. The second one jumped Gambit who had pulled a bo-staff out of his coat. The staff hit the second attacker square into the chest and threw him back. Gambit was more than just surprised. With all that armor the man was heavier than a normal person and should not have been thrown back that far! And then the second attacker vanished like the first one. Still baffled Gambit failed to see the horseman. Something hit him hard into the back and fell to his knees. The horseman passed him, aiming straight at the defenseless Peter Venkman. Peter had grabbed a piece of wood - his only means of defense. The wood splintered under the brutal attack of the horseman who had pulled a sword. Peter yelled in outrage, stumbling back.  
"Damné!" Gambit got to his feet and grabbed for some more cards. He threw them at the horseman screaming: "Get down!"  
Peter reacted out of instinct, dropping to the street. The cards touched the armor of the third attacker and Gambit heard a whining sound as horse and rider vanished like their companions. He ran towards Peter who still lay on the street, covering his head with his hands.  
"Monsieur Venkman?"  
Peter struggled up and stared at the other man. His emerald eyes shone with barely surpressed anger. "Are you nuts? Are you crazy? Are you completely out of your mind?! What did you think you were doing, throwing those fireballs at me?!"  
"Savin' you life for instance," Gambit said dryly.  
"You nearly killed me!"  
"What a loss for mankind!"  
"Well, it's a greater loss to mankind than if it had been you!" Peter snarled.  
"Bon! Next time Gambit will keep outta your business and your can get yourself killed!" Gambit whirled round, his own temper a bright flame. "Qu'est-ce je faits!" he muttered to himself.  
"Fine! And I understood that!" Peter, his anger vanishing as fast as it had come, looked up and down the street that was now covered in black and white squares. "What did you do anyway?" he changed the topic.  
"What d'you mean?" Gambit still sounded piqued.  
"You know what I mean. You made those three cards glow and then they exploded!"  
"Ah oui. You mean dat?" Gambit held up one card and it started to flicker in an orange light.  
Peter stepped back. "Uhm, yeah."  
Gambit reduced the charge in the card and stuck it back into his pocket. "One of my many talents." He shrugged.  
"And what are the others?" came the ready question.  
Before Gambit could answer some kind of gigantic screen popped out of nowhere. Both men stepped back from the thing. On the screen a head appeared. Peter gasped as he recognized the face. The face had a bluish pink skin and large eyes. A silly looking cap decorated with bells sat on top of the head.  
"Welcome!" called a happy sounding voice. "Welcome to my game!"  
"Game?" Gambit echoed. "What kind of game?"  
"A good question, monsieur Gambit," answered the head on the screen. "It's a game of life and death. Your life, your death." The thing on the screen seemed to find that very amusing because it started to laugh.  
"Who are you?"  
"The Player," Peter answered Gambit's question.  
Gambit turned to his temporary partner. "You know dat clown?"  
"It's a high class spirit. We met him before."  
"A ghost? Un espirit?" Gambit echoed in disbelief.  
"The pleasure is mine, believe me, Dr. Venkman," the Player said with a devilish grin.  
"What do you want this time?"  
"Fun, Ghostbuster. Simply fun! And you two will entertain me." Again, he laughed. "It's all one big and deadly game. Maybe you will survive, but I wouldn't bet on it. You mastered the first level but the second one is much more dangerous. No-one ever survived." The Player giggled. "Welcome to the Black City, gentlemen!"  
Then the screen disappeared again. Peter and Gambit were alone.

* * *

Rogue had the feeling she had collided with a steel wall. She remembered the sudden pull of the black hole as she tried to reach Gambit and how she had been sucked in. Then she had blacked out. Now she was regaining most of her senses, step by step. The first thing she sensed was the wetness all around her. Somewhere something dripped with an unnerving regularity. Rogue tried to sit up and find out where she was. Thankfully her suit was waterproofed.  
Everywhere around her reigned chaos and destruction. The houses were mere ruins and everything was scorched and blackened by fire. The street was full of garbage. The sky above her was darkened and a steady rain fell down on her. Rogue wondered where she was. And where Gambit was, too. The Cajun was nowhere to be seen.  
"Gambit?" she called but only a hollow echo answered her. She got up on her feet and started to walk down the street, searching for her companion.  
"Peter?" The new voice made Rogue jump. She stopped in mid-stride and looked round. The voice had come from the semi-darkness of a near entrance. Something moved in there and then someone stepped out. It was a tall man, maybe late thirties, wearing a battered looking lab coat. Red-rimmed glasses sat on his nose and blue eyes looked curiously, but cautiously, at Rogue.  
"Who are you?" they asked simultaneously.  
Rogue laughed nervously. "Well, Ah don't think Ah'm the man yoah lookin' foh."  
"I think I can say the same," the blond returned, shoving his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Who are you if I may ask?"  
"The name's Rogue," Rogue answered.  
"Egon Spengler," the blond introduced himself. "You haven't met anyone by any chance? Dark hair, green eyes, clad in jeans and sweat-shirt?"  
Rogue shook her head. "Ah'm lookin' foh someone, too." She described Gambit.  
"You are the first person I have met so far," Spengler said.  
"And you won't see anyone else, my friends," a voice suddenly said.  
Rogue whirled round. Only a few meters away from her hovered a dwarf-like creature, clad in a joker's costume with a silly hat on his head.  
"The Player!" Egon gasped.  
"Y'know the ugly face?" Rogue asked.  
"The Player is a ghost we met only a few months ago." Egon held up the P.K.E. meter he had found in his pocket. He aimed it at the Player. He got no reading at all.  
"Your devices won't help you here, Dr. Spengler," the Player said with a smile. "This is my city, my game. What I want happens."  
"Listen, buddy, Ah wanna know where Gambit is ....," Rogue started.  
"Or what?" the Player teased. "Don't worry. Your friend is still alive. Still. He is a good player."  
"What is the objective of this game?" Egon asked even so he badly wanted to know what had happened to Peter.  
"The objective? Your 'objective' is to survive!" The Player chuckled cheerfully.  
Egon remembered the last game all four Ghostbusters had played with the Player. "Where is the exit of this world."  
"All scientist, Dr. Spengler, aren't you? But to answer your question: it is in the very center of this city."  
"Well, that won't be that hard to find!" Rogue murmured.  
"And now let the game begin! You are on level one!" the Player called. "Welcome to the Black City!" With that he vanished.  
Egon looked at his P.K.E. meter again. It read nothing at all. No paranormal activities even so they were in the middle of a ghost town. Very strange.  
"Okay, Blondy," Rogue said at his side. "What now? Yuh two seem to know each other. How 'bout an enlightenment o' the rest of us unknowing?"  
Egon had to surpress a smile. Somehow Rogue sounded like Peter when he was trying to get Egon to explain something to the others.  
"My name is Egon," he corrected her. "And the Player is a very powerful ghost which means he is also very dangerous. He loves to play games."  
"That wet blanket? The blue dwarf doesn't seem very dangerous and life-threatening to me, shugah."  
"That 'wet blanket' as you refer to the Player is not only very dangerous, he also loves to play with human lives. He could terminate our life with the blink of an eye. But he loves to play so he won't just kill us right on the spot."  
"Okay, Ah'll forget that ghost stuff foh now. Let's search foh our friends. Do yuh have a plan where we are right now? Ah mean if we hav'ta find that center of the city we hav'ta know where we are."  
Egon shook his head. Rogue shrugged and decided to take a look for herself. She used her mutant abilities to fly and lifted herself above the houses of the street.  
"Oh, boy!" she murmured as she got her first, good look. "Ah think we've a real problem here."  
Wherever she looked she saw only ruins or near-ruins of black buildings. There was no visible city limit, no squares, only hundreds of thousands of streets. She sank back to the street level.  
"We're in deep shit," she explained to the blond man. "Hey, shugah, what's up?"  
"You can fly," Egon said matter-of-factly.  
Rogue was reminded of her difference from other humans and that her abilities where nothing to show freely as long as she didn't know who she was dealing with. Somehow she trusted Spengler and she hoped she wasn't wrong.  
"Yes, Ah can. Ah'm a mutant."  
"Mutant?" Egon raised both eyebrows. "May I ask where you came from?"  
"Earth, doctor. Ah'm no alien, only someone whose genes were mixed up a bit."  
"Fascinating," Egon murmured. He held the P.K.E. meter in Rogues direction and the needle moved, showing a reading. "Fascinating," he repeated.  
"What?" Rogue tried to get a look at the screen of the device. "What's that?"  
"This device normally picks up the frequencies of ghosts, but right now I'm getting something else. Maybe it's your mutant abilities."  
Rogue snapped with her fingers. "That would be a way to find Gambit!"  
"He is like you?"  
"Not exactly. He's diff'rent, but somehow the same. He's a mutant if yuh mean that."  
Egon re-adjusted the P.K.E. meter and turned it towards himself. Again the needle reacted, but not as much as with Rogue.  
"I would say that the P.K.E. meter picks up human frequencies. Your mutant abilities register a bit stronger, that's all. I think we can find Gambit and Peter with it."  
"Then we should do that. Where to?"  
Egon turned a 360°, then pointed in one direction. "That's where the readings are the strongest."  
Rogue lifted off again and flew down the street. Egon followed her on foot. His mind was reeling with what he had heard and seen. Mutants! Why had no-one ever heard of people with powers like that?

* * *

Professor Charles Xavier steered his wheelchair through the empty mansion - the school for very special students. Everything was very quiet. Cyclops, Storm and Jubilee were away with the Blackbird and would return in a few hours. Wolverine was somewhere Xavier didn't know and Jean Grey ... he smiled as he felt Jean's presence. She had just entered the mansion. He changed the direction of his wheelchair to meet with the red-haired woman. Xavier was handicapped and used a futuristic looking, hovering wheelchair which allowed him to go almost everywhere. He was an extraordinarily talented and very strong telepath who had made it his task to teach all the other talented people, usually called mutants by the public. And he had a dream. The dream that one day non-mutants and mutants would peacefully live side by side without prejudice.  
His mansion was just outside Westchester, New York, where he had built the school for those gifted people. Everyone who wanted to learn more about his powers and how to use them to help others could do so. Right now he had eight students of which Jean Grey was one. Like him she was telepathically talented. She also possessed the power of telekinesis she still had to strengthen.  
"Hello, professor," Jean greeted him as she hung up her coat. "Are the others back yet?"  
"No, but the Blackbird should be here in a matter of hours."  
"What about Rogue and Gambit?"  
Xavier frowned. As he had come home this morning, accompanied by Beast, he had felt no other presence in the mansion. "They are not here."  
"Strange. They wanted to stay here today. Gambit was keen to test Wolverine's new training sequence and Rogue said something about watching him get smothered." Jean smiled a bit.  
Xavier scanned the whole mansion telepathically without detecting the slightest trace of the two mutants. Instead he felt something strange and alien. He turned his hover chair and drove to the danger room. Jean followed him. She, too, felt something strange when she concentrated very hard. As they arrived at the danger room the alien feeling was overpowering. And the feeling of danger. Jean opened the door.  
The room was empty now and only a few burn marks told them of Gambit's battle with the holographic adversaries. Then they discovered the circular, black hole in the wall. The inside of the hole pulsed in an orange light.  
"What is this, professor?"  
"I don't know, Jean. But whatever it is, it's getting smaller." Xavier pointed at the hole and Jean noticed that it was really getting smaller.  
"Do you think Gambit and Rogue ...?"  
"It could very well be." Xavier looked at the ceiling and saw that the observation cameras where still switched on and running. The cameras had been installed to tape the trainees battle and then evaluate it. "Let's take a look at the tape."  
They went to the observation room and Jean rewound the tape. She then did a fast forward to skip the training sequence and stopped it as they reached the part where Rogue entered. They watched the amorous scene with a smile on their lips which was immediately wiped away when the hole appeared. Both witnessed the disappearance of their friends and then everything was silent.  
"What is this?" Jean asked, horrified.  
"We have to find out," Xavier said slowly. "And fast."

* * *

Peter was wet and miserable. His mood was way below zero. This was mostly due to the attack which had left him a little bit shaky - but he would never admit it to anyone. Then he was in company of a very strange guy whose suit was evidently waterproof and who played one mean hand of cards. And now he was walking along the lonely, empty streets of a strange town in another dimension getting thoroughly soaked. That he was hungry was another matter.  
"I t'ink we've been 'ere before," Gambit said as they stopped at another crossing.  
"Are you sure?" Peter looked round without so much as a spark of enthusiasm.  
"Non. Every street looks alike."  
Peter snarled something under his breath which, following the tone of voice, had to be a curse. He kicked at some piece of garbage and it landed in a puddle with a sick splash.  
"You still 'ave some questions to answer, monsieur."  
"Which are?" the psychologist asked, unfriendly. He was in no mood for a game of '20 questions'.  
Gambit was not shaken by Peter's unfriendly behavior. He wanted answers. "You said de Player is a ghost. What did you mean by dat?"  
"Exactly what I wanted to say. The Player is a ghost which has a very high classification. And if I had a proton pack and a trap I'd wipe that damn grin of his ugly face!" Peter's green eyes flashed with surpressed anger.  
Gambit frowned. Trap? Proton pack? Ghosts??  
"You may judge me as naive, but w'at are you talking about?"  
"Don't tell me you've never heard of the Ghostbusters before?" Peter stared at his companion in horror. Someone who hadn't heard of the famous Dr. Peter Venkman and the Ghostbusters?? Unbelievable!  
"Ghostbusters? You want tell Gambit you believe in such superstitions as ghosts?"  
"Ghosts are no superstition. Ghosts are real. The Player is real. Very real indeed. How else do you want to explain all of that?" Peter pointed at the city around him.  
"I don't have a logical explanation for it - yet," Gambit confessed, looking down the street. "But ghosts are not a way to explain w'at has happened. Dey don't exist."  
"Who ever expected a logical explanation from me? Egon's the logical one." Peter shoved a wet strand of hair out of his eyes.  
"So there's more than one of you?"  
"Four of us. We are four. And you really never heard anything about us? I don't believe it! Where were you when we saved the world from Gozer five years ago?"  
"In school," Gambit answered truthfully.  
"Must have been a very secluded school," Peter muttered. "The story made all the headlines," he then said aloud. "'Ghostbusters save New York!'".  
"New York? Non. I never 'eard of dat. And we weren't secluded, monsieur Venkman. We would've 'eard."  
"I still don't believe it. Everybody knows us. We even had some busts in Russia and Germany. We are famous!"  
Gambit shrugged. "Okay. But I still don't believe in ghosts. Dis Player looked a bit strange but dat doesn't make 'im a ghost."  
"Believe me, he is one. We met him before and that time he played with us, too. We escaped." Peter stared down the desolate street. "I wonder if we can escape this time, too," he muttered to himself.  
Gambit's lips were a thin line. He, too, wondered whether they would find the center of the city. They had not encountered new adversaries and both of them were utterly tired and exhausted. And what about Rogue?  
"Maybe we should take a look at dis city." Gambit pointed at a high building which might have been a tower once, but was a crumbling ruin now. It was the tallest building they had seen so far.  
Peter sighed and followed him inside. They climbed up the shaky looking stairs. More often than not parts of the old stair crumbled away, leaving them with even less space to stand on. Breathing heavily they emerged on the roof. Peter stared at the scenery before him in disbelief.  
"I don't believe it!" he breathed.  
"I'd say we've some problems, n'est pas, mon ami?"  
The city seemed endless. Blackened, wrecked buildings stood side by side, leaving no free space and showing no distinctive features. Somewhere in the distance smoke rose to the uniform grey sky.  
"How do you want to find the center?" Peter whispered.  
Gambit was silent. He had no answer to the psychologist's question.  
"You don't have a compass, do you?" Peter wanted to know, trying to get back to his old self. Gambit shook his head. "That's what I thought. What now?"  
"We go on. If de others are 'ere we'll find dem some time or de ot'er."  
"'Some time or the other' isn't very encouraging."  
"Do you have a better idea, monsieur Venkman?"  
"Peter," Peter corrected the other man. "And no, I don't have another idea." He looked at the endless, black city again. "Maybe we should go there."  
Gambit followed Peter's gaze. "Dat smoke?"  
"There may be people there."  
"May I remind you dat de last people we met weren't very friendly?" Gambit said dryly.  
"To use your question: do you have a better idea?"  
Gambit shook his head and they climbed down again. Very, very carefully. The rain had not ceased. They went down the street towards the now clearly visible smoke billowing over the ruins. Peter mulled over the questions he wanted to ask very badly. Then he decided to ask.  
"What you did with the cards .... do you think that's normal?"  
Gambit had to laugh as he heard Peter's question. "Yes," he then said.  
"Aha. How did you do it?"  
"I can't explain it. I am what you'd call a mutant, Peter. My genes are different from yours."  
"Aha," Peter made again. "Funny you haven't made the cover of 'Bizarre Monthly' yet." He had meant this as a joke, but Gambit's reaction showed him the other man didn't think of it as such. "Uhm, sorry," he said. "I didn't want to insult you."  
"No." Gambit shook his head. "No, it's all right. I should be used to it now. Most humans are against us mutants. Dey think we are a danger." There was a bitter line around his mouth. "Dey hate us only because we are different. Dat's why dey evoked de Mutant Registration Law."  
"Mutant-what Law?? Never heard of it before. Is that limited to your state?"  
Gambit looked irritated. "No, it's world wide."  
Peter shook his head vehemently. "Can't be. I'd have heard of that for sure! But beside that: if there's something like that law .... are there more of you? I mean, more people with your abilities?" Peter was getting confused. Did he have to know those people? Gambit talked like everyone knew the mutants. And what about that strange law?  
"Yes, dere are more mutants and no, dey are not like me. We all 'ave altered genes but we don't have de same powers. Most of us don't look different from non-mutants, but not all are so lucky. Some 'ave bodily differences."  
Peter shook his head again. "I don't understand that ..... I never heard of it ......."  
Gambit stared at him. "C'est impossible! You never 'eard of de X-men? Or de attack of de Sentinels on Washington? Or Apocalypse? It made all channels!"  
Peter shrugged. "No, sorry. But judging from what you said about the Ghostbusters I'm not surprised anymore."  
Before Gambit could say anything an explosion shook the city and both had to fight to keep their balance. Only a few hundred meters away a column of fire shot out of the ground. The fire spread fast and soon the first flames touched the buildings close to them.  
"Streets of fire," Peter joked without any humor.  
A second explosion made them stumble and a second column of fire licked at the ruins.  
"Let's get outta 'ere!" Gambit grabbed Peter's arm and pulled him into an alley. They felt the heat in their backs as they raced down the narrow alleyway and somewhere another explosion shook the city.

* * *

Rogue set down beside Egon and shook her head. "It goes on forever like that. Sometimes Ah think Ah've seen a house before but Ah'm not sure. Somehow this reminds me of the labyrinth game Jubilee bought last week. It's strange."  
"Strange doesn't even start to describe it," Egon frowned at the display of the P.K.E. meter He had studied the readings since they had started off towards what he thought were other human life forms. "It's also strange that the readings I get - of which I think are other humans - are moving away from us with the same speed with which we are moving towards them."  
"Are yuh sure those life forms are Gambit and yoah friend Peter?"  
Egon shook his head. "I programmed the P.K.E. meter with Peter's biorhythm, but it doesn't tell from this distance. We're still too far away. It only shows that whatever or whoever those life forms are, they are no ghosts."  
Somewhere in the distance they heard thunder. It sounded like an approaching storm, but Egon wasn't sure it really was one.  
"Blondy!" Rogue grabbed his arm and pointed at one of the buildings.  
Egon looked that way and discovered something, too. In the shadow of a half-crumbled building he saw a vaguely human shape. He didn't know who or what it was. but he intended to find out. Carefully they walked over to the shape. Egon took readings but didn't get any results. He guessed whoever that thing was, it was an inhabitant of this dimension. It was a ghost. The ghost was clad in old, tattered clothes which hid its body completely. Only the hands were visible. The head was covered by a large hood. In front of the ghost was a small box full of strange coins and other stuff. Beside the box was a piece of wood on which three nut shells and a tiny golden ball were placed.  
The ghost made a gesture towards the shells and the ball, emitting a series of grunts.  
Rogue stared into the hood, trying to distinguish the features of the face. No luck. She thought she could see a pair of red eyes but wasn't sure.  
The shape grunted again, this time forcefully.  
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked her companion.  
"I don't know. I guess it wants us to play." Egon pointed at the wooden board and the shells. "Can you show us the way to the center of this city?" he asked the shape.  
A cackling laughter was the answer and Egon suddenly started to shiver. Then the ghost started to grunt again, pointing at game.  
Egon shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't have any money to play."  
The ghost snorted and said something they didn't understand, but which sounded like a question.  
Egon looked at Rogue who just shrugged. "Let's play. Maybe he sells us a map if we win."  
As if the shape had understood Rogue's words it started to place the tiny, golden ball under one of the shells. With an incredible speed it then moved the shells on the board. Egon tried to concentrate but found it impossible. When all three shells stood still the ghost made a gesture towards them, grunting. Egon frowned, choosing the one on the right side. The shape laughed and lifted the shell. No golden ball. The shells were placed again and then again they were shuffled with an inhuman speed. Again Egon chose the shell on the right side and again he lost. The shape chuckled and lifted one finger.  
"One last chance, Ah guess," Rogue said and pointed at the shell in the middle.  
The ghost picked up the shell.  
No golden ball.  
The shape roared with laughter and slapped its knees. It pushed the shells off the board and they fell in front Egon's and Rogue's feet.  
"Hey! No fair!" Rogue exclaimed as she looked the game at her feet. "There's no ball!!"  
The shape laughed even louder and suddenly vanished into thin air - just like the rest of the street. For a second Rogue and Egon seemed to hang in thin air then they followed the law of gravity. For a long time they simply fell. The colors around them changed throughout the spectrum, then they slowed down. All the time Egon tried to clear away the cobwebs which seemed to descend on his brain.  
"What happened? Where are we?" Rogue was at his side, trying to distinguish some form in the uniform grey environment.  
"It looks like we lost the game," Egon stated slowly.  
"Ah've come this far myself! But where are we?"  
"You are in the Limbo, my friends," a voice answered Rogue's question. A well-known face appeared inside the uniform grey. The Player. He looked relaxed and like he was enjoying himself immensely. "I'm sorry but you have lost. No more games for you. But don't worry, soon you'll have company. Your friends won't win against me!" He disappeared again.  
Egon and Rogue had a sinking feeling.  
"How could I forget?!" Egon suddenly exclaimed, slapping his palm against his forehead in a gesture Peter sometimes used.  
"If you'd tell me what yuh forgot Ah may be able to tell yuh why, Blondy."  
"Maybe this dimension hinders my normal mental processes," Egon muttered to himself, pulling his pocket computer out of his pocket. He hacked at the tiny keyboard like mad and some minutes later he looked a bit shocked.  
"What's up?" Rogue wanted to know.  
"I should have realized the first minute the Player mentioned the Black City," Egon muttered. "It's all here in 'Tobin's Spirit Guide." He sighed. Aloud he said: "I think we're in a very precarious situation."  
"You needn't have asked yoah pocket calculator foh that ingenious realization. Ah could've told yuh that!"  
"The Black City is not in another dimension, it is another dimension," Egon said sternly. "There are very few ghosts here. Following 'Tobin's' it's nearly impossible to find the Black City's center because the dimension is always changing. The center is always moving."  
Rogue stared at him, speechless. "Yuh wanna say we can't get outta here?"  
"Well, judging from our momentary situation we are out of the game. But there is a way. We could open a gateway back to our own world if we find a source of energy that is strong enough to breach the dimensional barriers."  
"We'd need the Cajun to do that," Rogue said thoughtfully. "He always has too much energy." There was a soft smile around her lips.  
"But he is still in the game, we are not."  
Rogue sighed, drifting through the grey nothingness. They had a real problem.

* * *

Charles Xavier leaned back and shook his head, confused. "I have never seen anything like it before. It seems to be some kind of gateway."  
"A gateway? Where to?" Jean wanted to know.  
"Unknown," Beast answered, shoving his glasses up his nose. "We did a complete analysis and Cerebro can't say anything about it. It's a gateway all right, but that's all we can say. It bled off some strange energy as Gambit and Rogue entered, but now it's inactive. It's a phenomenon." He looked at both of them.  
"What's going on here?"  
Jean and Xavier turned round as they heard the voice. John Logan, called Wolverine, had entered the lab.  
"We have a problem. Gambit and Rogue have disappeared."  
"Did our love-birds finally fly off into the sunset?" Wolverine grinned, showing a pair of very sharp fangs every wolf would have been jealous of.  
"I wish it were this way," the professor said seriously. "But it's not that simple. A gateway appeared in the danger room and it sucked Gambit and Rogue inside. It's closing very, very slowly now."  
Wolverine frowned. "What kind of outrageous story is that?"  
Jean wordlessly started the tape, showing Wolverine the scene in the danger room.  
"Can't'cha leave the Cajun alone for one minute?" was the Canadian's only comment.  
"We have to try and widen the gateway again," Beast explained. "But to do that we need a great amount of energy. I think I know a way to produce the energy we need, but I'm not sure it will work. It might have a different effect altogether though."  
Jean placed a hand on Beast shoulder. "We have to try."

* * *

Peter coughed and tried to force his lungs to get some more oxygen into his system. Around him was hell. The heat was unbearable and dense smoke made it impossible to see more than a few feet. His eyes hurt and tears were streaming down his cheeks. He staggered over something, nearly falling to the ground. Someone steadied him and he felt Gambit's hand close around his right arm. The other man pulled him along the burning street. Peter didn't think that Gambit could see more than he did but his instinct told him to trust the other man. Anyway, it might be his only chance.  
"In dere!" Gambit coughed, shoving Peter towards a black something.  
Peter gasped for air, collapsing against a wall. "What .... the hell ... do we want in here?" His throat was dry. He had inhaled too much smoke and had difficulties to talk.  
"Wait until de fire burns out," Gambit answered and closed the door behind him.  
"How many years did you plan to spend in here?" Peter rasped. He blinked tears out of his eyes and looked round. "Nice room. Maybe I'll come here again for my next vacation."  
Outside was another explosion and dust and debris fell from the ceiling of the room they had fled into. A second explosion followed, this time closer, and a third. Everything happened very fast. No-one had any time to react. The third explosion seemed to be right in front of their door. The shock wave smashed Peter against the wall. He slid down on the cold floor, barely conscious. Gambit, who had been closer to the door than the psychologist, was hit by the door which had been blown out of its hinges. He felt a hot pain in his shoulder as he hit the ground. Dazed, he stayed down, unable to move one little finger. When his head finally cleared he felt someone touching his shoulder.  
"Que ....?" he murmured, trying to get up.  
"Stay down," Peter ordered and pushed him back.  
Still, Gambit tried it again. His right shoulder was full of blood and he couldn't feel his right arm. Something must have hit him. He didn't feel any pain, but he was sure he'd feel it soon enough - when the immediate shock was over.  
"Looks like the fire's out," Peter said calmly, bandaging Gambit's shoulder with pieces of clothes Gambit identified as a former, black T-shirt. "How do you feel?"  
"Fine. How'd you wanna know de fire's out?"  
Peter gestured vaguely towards what had once been their door. Now it was a piece of shattered wood which couldn't cover the entrance any longer. Most of it had been blown away. "Can't hear or see anything anymore."  
Gambit tried to sit up and felt a first surge of sharp pain. He bit his lip, but couldn't help moaning softly. Peter tied the last knot and sat back on his heels.  
"Bad?"  
Gambit wanted to deny it, but another wave of pain made him blanch. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to stop. He breathed heavily.  
"You can't go on," Peter stated. "Not with this injury."  
"If you really t'ink I'd stay 'ere, you're dead wrong, mon ami!"  
"You lost a lot of blood, Gambit. You need medical help."  
"An' w'ere do you want to find a doct'r?" Gambit's French accent got more pronounced as he fought against the pain and Peter's stubbornness. Especially the latter. He wouldn't stay here! He staggered to his feet, swaying dangerously. Peter grabbed his arm to keep him from toppling over. Breathing heavily Gambit leaned against the other man, grateful for his assistance. Peter lowered him to the floor again.  
"Je ... ne comprende ... pas ...," Gambit whispered in pain.  
"What?" Peter asked gently. The little bit of French he knew - and which he had learned while being together with Danielle Vermont - enabled him to understand Gambit.  
"My suit ... it shouldn't be ...... it should have kept me from harm ....."  
Peter frowned. "It may be this dimension .....," he muttered as if to himself. He had witnessed a lot of thing that should not have been.  
"What do we do now?"  
"Right now we won't do very much. You can't stay here alone and you can't move."  
Gambit pulled a card out of his pocket, igniting it. "I'm not defenseless, Peter," he reminded the other one calmly.  
"I know, but what if I find a way out of here? You'd have stay here."  
"I'll find a way."  
Peter shook his head. "No way. Either we go together or no-one goes."  
Gambit leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. "Give me some time to get m' strength back, den we'll go."  
Peter decided it was no use to further discuss the matter with the other man. He, too, leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. Seconds later he was asleep.

* * *

Strange looking devices and machines stood in front of the still further shrinking hole in the wall. Wolverine was reminded of laser rifles as he watched Beast and Professor Xavier doing last minute adjustments. Then both stepped back from their innovation.  
"If I'm right we'll be able to channel enough energy into the gateway to open it again," Beast said, scratching his chin. "If I am wrong it's going to blow up around us."  
"Very reassuring," Wolverine commented.  
Beast went over to the controls and opened the energy transfer. Then he adjusted the beams.  
"Okay, here we go." He switched on the beams and five thick and very bright streams of light hit the gateway. First nothing happened. Then everyone felt a soft vibration running through the floor. The vibration got stronger. And then the black hole widened again. Everything happened very swiftly so Beast had no chance to adjust the streams. The black hole turned orange and started to swirl in front of their eyes. A heavy wind blew through the danger room and whipped their hair into their faces. Jean lost her balance and Wolverine caught her, preventing her from being pushed against the far side of the room.  
"Something's coming!" Jean cried and pushed against the wind.  
And then the other three saw it too, but couldn't identify it. The hole exploded into bright light.

* * *

"You don't have, by any chance, a radio with which you could reach your friend?" Egon asked. They had been in the Limbo for some time now. Egon guessed it were hours, but it felt like days. He had consulted his watch but it had been stopped.  
Rogue stared at him. "How could Ah forget?" She shook her head and touched the 'X'-symbol at her belt. "Gambit, it's Rogue? Can yuh hear me?"  
No answer.  
"Gambit?" Rogue repeated. "It's Rogue. Do yuh read me?"  
Again no answer.  
Rogue shrugged.  
"It was worth a try," Egon just said.  
Suddenly the Limbo began to turn red. First it was very inconspicuous, then the colors increased, getting stronger. Patches of yellow and red ran together and formed new patches of every shade of orange. The new patches met in a swirl of orange. And the two prisoners were being sucked inside.  
"No!" a voice yelled which Egon identified as the one of the Player. "No! That's against the rules!"  
Everything turned deep red now and the Player appeared. He seemed very enraged. "It's against the rules!" he repeated.  
"That's it!" Egon finally had an idea what was happening. "That's our way out of here!"  
"What?!" Rogue stared at him as if he had lost his mind.  
"It's our way home," Egon repeated. "I think someone is manipulating the gateway through which we have come. It has been reactivated."  
Rogue looked into the swirling red thing which was sucking them inside.  
"No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!!!" screamed the Player. "No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!! It's against the rules!!"  
"Ah hope yuh're right," Rogue muttered. They were sucked inside and red enveloped them.

* * *

Peter woke from nightmares. Confused he sat up, a bit confused. As he saw his somber environment he remembered where he was and what had happened. His clothes were wet and he felt miserable. He turned his head, searching for his companion. He saw Gambit lying on the floor beside him, still asleep. Peter stood up, swaying a bit, and stretched. The feeling of gnawing hunger returned and he tried to ignore it. He stepped up to the destroyed door and looked outside.  
First he thought he was dreaming. That just couldn't be! He stepped outside and stared at what had been a burned down street when he had fallen asleep. Now everything had changed. Everything was gleaming in a uniform black. The buildings had disappeared, making way for a slippery looking and slightly curved wall that was everywhere. It looked like some kind of channel without a ceiling. There was no trace of the ruined houses or the pavement any more. Peter rubbed his eyes but the sight stayed the same. All that remained of the street of last night, showing him he hadn't gone completely mad, was the house they had spent the night in. Instead of the houses which had been at its side the last night, there were corridors, leading away from the tunnel-like street towards an unknown point. Where there had been a building there was now a silver or black square with a number painted on the shiny surface.  
"W'at ... happened?" a weak voice wanted to know.  
Peter turned and saw Gambit, leaning against the door frame and looking decidedly too pale. Only the soot that covered him from head to toe - just like Peter - gave him some color.  
"I don't know," Peter confessed. "But we are no longer where we were last night."  
Gambit stared a the completely transformed scenery. "Oui. Dat's a way to put it, mon ami."  
"How do you feel?"  
"I felt worse after last year's Mardi Gras party," Gambit evaded a direct answer.  
"But I think you looked better then." Peter shook his head. "It would be better if you sat down again."  
"We 'ave to go on," the other man insisted. "Rogue and your friend Egon are still somewhere in dis crazy city."  
Peter bit his lip. He hadn't forgotten about Egon - just the opposite - but Gambit's condition wasn't something to take lightly. He was too weak to walk on his own two feet and Peter had no intention of leaving him. Gambit had lost a lot of blood and was exhausted. Even the determined look in his burning red eyes couldn't cover that.  
"Or do you want anot'er discussion?" Gambit asked, igniting one card.  
Peter frowned and there was a challenging look in his emerald eyes. "Do you want to threaten me, mister?"  
Gambit studied the suddenly hardened features of his companion and realized that Peter would keep him down with force if necessary. And somehow he was right. Gambit knew he was in no condition to go any further.  
"Maybe," he said, pocketing the card again. It was an offer for peace. "But I don't t'ink I'll come very far wit' t'reats." He looked at Peter with raised eyebrows.  
The Ghostbuster studied him silently for a long time. Then he sighed silently. "Do you think you can ...."  
"Yes," Gambit interrupted him and pushed away from the door frame. He swayed dangerously and had all hands full not loosing balance. Peter knew immediately that he would not be able to move ten steps.  
Gambit came as far as three steps when they suddenly heard a distant rumbling noise, coming closer. Fast. Peter cocked his head, trying to distinguish the source of the noise. Suddenly a huge, silver, gleaming ball appeared at the end of the transformed street.  
"What de hell is dat?" Gambit gasped and his black eyes widened.  
"Rien ne va plus, messieurs!" a neutral voice announced. "Nothing goes."  
The ball gained more speed and raced towards the two men. Peter had the feeling like the whole world was starting to move, him included. As if he was sitting on a turning table. He staggered against Gambit who was unable to compensate the other man's weight. They both fell down. Gambit surpressed a cry of pain as he hit his injured shoulder. Their fall brought them on one of the silver squares with a number. It was number 13. Hadn't there been their house just seconds ago? The ball thundered towards them.  
"Thirteen, silver," the neutral voice said. "Thirteen looses."  
"What?!" Suddenly Peter knew what was happening. This was a game of roulette!  
The ground disappeared beneath them and both men fell into a bottomless, black hole. Peter cried out in rage and helplessness, trying to grab something to hold on to, but the wall was slippery wet.  
"Thank you for playing, gentlemen." The bodiless voice echoed over the empty roulette wheel. The silver square closed again and the number disappeared - as did the rest of the game. Seconds later nothing bore witness of what had just happened.

* * *

Jean Grey blinked and tried to shoo away the colorful spots dancing in front of her eyes. The sudden explosion of light had left them all half blinded. Non of them had witnessed the arrival of the two humanoid figures in the danger room.  
"Rogue!" Jean cried and ran to the motionless woman, kneeling down beside her. "Rogue?"  
Rogue moaned softly. "Mah head!" She opened her eyes. "Jean?" She seemed confused. Turning her head she recognized Xavier. "Professor? How ....?" Then she looked to where the other new arrival lay. "Blondy!"  
"Who?" Wolverine asked.  
Rogue struggled to her feet and went over to the unconscious, blond man. "Hey, shugah! Can yuh hear me? Blondy, wake up!"  
Egon opened his eyes and there was a reproachful look in his blue eyes. "My name is Egon, Rogue," he corrected her with a slightly wobbly voice.  
Rogue smiled, relieved, and helped him to sit up.  
"Where are we?" he then asked, seeing his environment for the first time. What he saw confused him.  
A bald man sat in some kind of hovering chair, studying with mild curiosity. A tall, grim looking man stood at his side and the look on his face could not be described as overly friendly. A red-haired woman knelt at Rogue's side and beside her stood ...... Egon blinked once. At first sight Egon would have thought it was an animal, but a second look showed intelligent eyes looking at him out of a gorilla-like face. The whole body was covered with blue-black hair and the thing was wearing a white lab coat. A pair of glasses sat on the flat nose.  
"We are home," Rogue announced.  
"I'm not so sure about that." Egon adjusted his glasses.  
"My name is Professor Charles Xavier," the bald man introduced himself.  
"Dr. Egon Spengler."  
"Doctor?" the haired being asked. "You are a medical doctor?"  
"A physicist," Egon replied. "Mr......?"  
"Hank McCoy."  
"Dr. Hank McCoy," Rogue corrected with a smile  
Egon stood up, brushing dust off his clothes. "May I ask where I am?"  
"You are in my mansion, Dr. Spengler," Xavier answered. "Xavier's School for the Gifted."  
Egon's gaze fell on the machine in front of the now disappeared hole. "A prototype of a semi-automatically reproducing proton-plasma-generator with various inputs for the mass changes in the main chamber." He rubbed his chin. "Very simple construction."  
Beast stepped up to him. "What do you mean by that?"  
"Ray and I did some experiments in this field a few months ago." A rueful smile passed over his lips. "We eliminated half of the lab's wall and Peter's chair in the process."  
"You did experiments with it? Why have I never heard of that? Where do you work?"  
Egon turned away from the machine and scrutinized the whole group. "I work with the Ghostbusters."  
"Who?" the unfriendly looking man wanted to know.  
"He told me somethin' like that before," Rogue said. "An' he said that the guy who kidnapped us is a ghost of a high degree."  
"Class," Egon corrected her. "Not degree."  
Xavier frowned. "I think we should talk."  
"Gambit!" Rogue exclaimed. "Where's Gambit?"  
"And Peter," Egon added. He looked round. No Peter in sight.  
"Who is Peter?"  
"He is my colleague. Dr. Peter Venkman. He was sucked into the dimension of the Player with me."  
"We activated the beam to widen the shrinking gateway," Beast explained. "We didn't know that it would get you here at all. The machine deactivated automatically as you arrived."  
Egon went over to the machine again and looked it over. "We have to get Peter and Gambit out of there. They are in grave danger."  
"You think you can adjust the machine so it can single out Peter and Gambit and bring them back?" Xavier asked with interest.  
Egon nodded.  
"Then we should not lose any more time," Beast said and both men set to work.

*

Egon Spengler leaned back and looked at the construction in front of him. He had just changed the machine's beam and now the machine should be able to adjust the intensity automatically when locking on to the person it was programmed to search for. With Beast's help he had programmed Peter's and Gambit's biorhythms into the computer and fed the information to the machine. He turned to Beast who was working on the controls. The mutant looked up, his thick eyebrows climbing a few millimeters.  
"Ready," Egon said.  
He had easily adjusted to the different looking man at his side. Hank McCoy was an extraordinarily intelligent man with unusual capabilities. He had studied bio-genetics but was also fluent in other fields. McCoy had told him much about himself as they worked side by side, mostly about his childhood. It must have been hard, Egon realized, and studying bio-genetics had been McCoy's hope to find a solution to his condition. He hadn't found a solution but the source: deformed genes. After the subject of their talk changed to other mutants Egon asked his question.  
"Dr. McCoy?"  
"Yes?"  
"I have spoken with Rogue and she told me some weird things which irritated me. I have a theory which is not yet a hundred percent and because of which I need some answers to my questions."  
"Okay, go on." Egon now had Beast's complete attention.  
"You all are human beings by birth and most of you look like anyone else I can meet on the streets. You differ only by your abilities. If I understood Rogue correctly there's not only your little group, but more. My question is: why has never anyone heard of you?"  
Beast looked at Egon for a long time. Then he asked: "You have never heard of the X-Men before?"  
The physicist shook his head.  
"Or the attack of the Sentinels? Apocalypse?"  
Again a shake of the blond head.  
"I think you should talk to the professor."  
Egon nodded. His mind reeled as his theory started to approach a hundred percent certainty.  
"We need about 20 minutes to charge the main streams," Beast continued. "That should be time enough."

*

Professor Xavier listened to Egon Spengler as he told him about the Ghostbusters, Gozer and everything else. When Egon had finished he was silent for a long time, looking at his partly assembled X-Men.  
"Dr. Spengler, I have to confess that I never heard of either Gozer or the Ghostbusters before. And we do have a very good net of information." Xavier allowed himself a swift smile. "And I guess that you don't have any idea who or what the 'X-Men' are because you have never heard of us in your world."  
"I see you have the same theory."  
"What theory?" Jean wanted to know.  
"Dr. Spengler is not from this world."  
"Come again please?!" Rogue and Jean asked nearly simultaneously.  
"I guess that Peter and I have been sucked into the dimension of the Player from a parallel dimension - ," Egon started to explain, " - which seems to be just like your world with some major differences - like mutants. In my world, my dimension, there are no mutants like you, just like there are no ghosts in yours."  
"Oh, boy!" Rogue muttered.  
"That's a way to put it," Egon smiled.  
"And now?" Wolverine asked.  
"Now we will free Gambit and Peter from the Player's dimension. Afterwards Peter and I have to return to our home."  
"And how do you want to manage that?" Jean wanted to know.  
"The same way we get Gambit and Peter here. We just have to change the beams again."  
"And now we should do just that: get Gambit and Peter here," Beast interrupted further explanations.  
Egon nodded. "The machine should now have sufficient energy. Let's try it."

* * *

Peter was in some kind of Limbo. There was nothing but suffocating blackness all around him. He didn't know whether he was alone or had company. He had tried to find Gambit but had no luck. And the air seemed to get thinner and thinner by the minute. Suddenly something bright appeared, racing towards him. Peter held up his arms as the light got to bright. It engulfed him and he felt a tearing pain as if someone tried to separate his muscles from his bones. He thought he screamed as waves of pain rolled endlessly over him. Then he blacked out, unaware of the sudden change of color of the light.

* * *

This time there was no explosion of light. The machine hummed continuously and then a wavering field of energy appeared where the black hole had been. It seemed to hover above the ground, pulsing in an orange light. When the light suddenly disappeared they saw two humanoid shapes lying on the floor.  
"Peter!"  
"Remy!"  
Peter Venkman had slung his arms around his chest, eyes screwed shut, and he seemed to be unconscious. His clothes were blackened and torn. Multiple bruises and scrapes decorated every inch of visible skin. Gambit lay at his side, his brown cloak torn and a dirty bandage around his right shoulder. Both men were pale and looked exhausted. Egon knelt down beside his friend and searched for a pulse. He exhaled in relief as he found one.  
"Peter?" he asked cautiously, brushing away heavy brown locks from Peter's forehead.  
The psychologist stirred and tried to move away from Egon's touch. Egon shook him gently by the arm. "Peter!"  
"E .... Egon?" Peter's voice was cautious and unsure. Hesitantly he opened his eyes and Egon saw how confused he was.  
"Yes, Peter," he said gently. "It's me." He squeezed Peter's arm reassuringly.  
Beside him Rogue had knelt down at Gambit's side, trying hard to surpress the immediate panic rising inside of her. She touched the blood-crusted bandage at Gambit's shoulder, then his face. It seemed to wake him because he started to move, moaning softly.  
"Remy?" Rogue asked.  
He opened his eyes. His red pupils were clouded and he had trouble focusing on her. "Rogue?" His voice was rough and weak, but it made Rogue smile.  
"Everything's okay," she said softly. "Everything's gonna be all right. Just hang on, shugah."  
Gambit's lips twitched into a barely visible smile. Professor Xavier moved over to the two new arrivals.  
"Gambit has to be moved to sickbay immediately," he told the others after he had seen the injuries. "And Dr. Venkman, too."  
"Wha's'sup?" Peter muttered, his eyes drooping. "Wha's happ'n'd?"  
"Stay calm, Peter. Everything's going to be all right," Egon calmed his friend like Rogue had done with Gambit.  
That was the moment Beast entered Peter's limited field of vision. The psychologist's emerald eyes widened in surprise and fear as he saw the dark, unfamiliar shape of the scientist. Egon squeezed Peter's arm again, reassuring him. "It's okay, Peter. That is Dr. Hank McCoy. He is a friend."  
"Who ...?" Peter blinked furiously. He was loosing his fight against the threatening blackness of unconsciousness. "Gambit ..." he muttered.  
"He is here, too." Egon saw how the other man was wheeled away to the sickbay. "Try to relax."  
When Peter was lifted onto a stretcher seconds later he was unconscious again.

* * *

Scott 'Cyclops' Summer entered the mansion of Charles Xavier. He, Storm and Jubilee had landed with the Blackbird a few minutes ago. Jubilee had immediately gone off to her room to check whether her VTR had taped everything she had programmed before lift-off. Storm accompanied him to the main living room where he expected to find the professor. As they passed Beast's lab they saw the large mutant working together with a stranger, a blond, tall man with red-rimmed glasses. Both of them were oblivious to their surroundings.  
"I have a positive reading of 5.469," Beast said without looking up from his work.  
"Okay," the blond answered. "We re-adjust the beams to exactly 5.673. I want to keep the neutral force within point 478 and minimize the stream of protons in the exchange unit. This way we might prevent larger damage."  
Beast looked up from his work. "I hope you are talking about property damage only."  
The other man answered the slightly humorous glint with serious blue eyes. "I hope it will be only property damage."  
"Storm?" Scott turned to his companion.  
"I don't know him either, Scott," Ororo 'Storm' Munroe answered with a smile. "But he and Hank seem to speak the same language."  
They went further down the corridor, finally arriving in the living room. There they not only met Rogue, Gambit and Jean, but a another stranger, too. He was bit on the pale side and had dark hair and green eyes. There was a large bruise on his forehead which he had apparently tried to - unsuccessfully - hide by combing some hair over it, and some scrapes on one cheek.  
"How large?" Rogue just asked in disbelief.  
"20 meters or more," was the answer and Rogue shook her head.  
"A Marshmallow Man? No chance!"  
Jean smiled. "He's telling the truth."  
"It's not nice to rummage around in other people's brains!" the dark-haired man said with a hurt look on his face.  
"You can't rummage around in somet'ing dat's not dere," Gambit muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear.  
"Look who's talking now," was the swift reply. The man's green eyes shone with amusement.  
"Scott!" Jean jumped off her chair as she discovered her fiancee. She kissed him.  
"Another chance gone," the stranger said theatrically and looked mournfully at the pair.  
Jean laughed. "You never give up, do you, Dr. Venkman?"  
"No," was Venkman's innocent replay. "And the name's Peter."  
"I know."  
"Snooper!"  
"Jean, who ...?" Scott interrupted another word fight.  
"Scott Summers, Dr. Peter Venkman. Peter is our .... guest."  
"Not for long," Gambit added.  
Now that he took a closer look at the Cajun Scott noticed the sling and the too pale skin color. Rogue sat very close by his side and had a protective look in her eyes. What had happened?  
"Don't start the cheering too early," Peter said dryly.  
"If Dr. Spengler and Beast don't find a way, I'll find one myself."  
"And that where I'm just getting to like it here."  
"We can change dat, mon ami." Gambit pulled a card out of his pocket and ignited it.  
Peter raised one eyebrow. "Bohhhh-ring."  
Gambit grinned and put the card away. He felt nearly like his old self again. His injuries had been cleaned and bandaged and he had slept a few hours. He had been told to relax and not move too much so he could heal. He had received a small blood transfusion, too, and Rogue didn't let him out of her sight. He didn't protest her company.  
Peter Venkman showed no further injuries but some scrapes and bruises. Like Gambit he felt better, now he had slept a bit and eaten a hearty meal. And after discovering that there were some very beautiful women around nothing held him in sickbay. Jean Grey had been his first 'victim' after he had seen Rogue and Gambit together. He had immediately realized that they were a pair. So he had taken aim at Jean Grey.  
Jean hat tried to 'get rid' of him by telling him she was a telepath, but it had not shaken him for a second. She had hoped it would shock him or get him into giving her more space, but non of it had happened. Now that Scott had appeared and Peter saw that there was a deeper relationship between the two she felt him give up. At least he knew when his chances were way below zero.  
"Would somebody please tell me what's going on here?" Scott asked with slight desperation.  
Jean pulled him towards the couch. "It's a long story." Then she started to tell him what she had heard from Rogue and Peter.  
Storm sat down close to Gambit and Rogue and listened, too. Peter looked at the dark skinned woman with the striking white hair and the blue eyes. He tried to estimate his chances to get a date with her. You could go crazy here! First he had to realize Gambit and Rogue were together and now Jean and this other man. He sighed silently.  
When Jean finished the story the two X-Men looked at Peter. He felt like he was a microbe studied by two scientists. He felt doubly uncomfortable because he couldn't see Scott Summer's eyes. They were hidden by red glasses.  
"Hey, what's up? Did I suddenly grow two heads?"  
"You are really from another dimension?" Storm asked doubtfully.  
"Yap!" Peter smiled. "What are you gonna do tonight?"  
Storm was a little perplexed. "Tonight?"  
"Don't'cha worry, Storm," Rogue laughed. "He tried it with me 'n' Jean, too."  
Storm lifted one dark eyebrow. "So I'm third choice?"  
"No-no!" Peter tried to assure her hastily, shooting Rogue an annihilating look. "You'd have been my first choice if you'd been here before." He gave Storm one of his most charming smiles that could melt a woman's heart.  
Jean chuckled softly, trying to stop when she saw Peter's look. "Sorry," she gasped and laughed again.  
"And Beast thinks he can send you two back?" Scott asked, trying to get to their original topic.  
"I don't just think I can, I firmly believe it," Beast's voice answered him.  
Scott turned his head and discovered his friend and the blond stranger which had to be Dr. Egon Spengler.  
"We re-constructed the machine that brought us here from the Black City," Spengler explained. "If my calculations are correct we will return to the place where we started from: Ghostbusters Central."  
"And if not we'll land somewhere in New York, right, Spengs?"  
Egon gazed at Peter with an unusual seriousness. "I hope so."  
"You hope so?" Peter echoed.  
"Peter, it's our only chance."  
"Hey, I trust you!" Peter returned the serious gaze. "But Central would be much better than New Jersey." He shuddered theatrically.  
"Okay, let's try it," Beast announced. "Got your things packed?"  
The two Ghostbusters and the X-Men went to Beast lab where the proton-plasma-generator had been brought. Professor Xavier met up with them and everyone watched in silence as they did last re-adjustments.  
"What now?" Peter asked, glancing suspiciously at the machine.  
"Just stand here," Beast instructed both Ghostbusters and pointed at a spot in front of the laser rifle-like construction. "I'll take over the controls."  
Peter and Egon walked over and stood in front of the beams. "See you on the other side," Peter said calmly and leveled his gaze at Egon.  
The blond man simply smiled.  
"Good-bye, gentlemen," Xavier bid fare-well to the two men.  
Peter grinned and looked at Gambit. "See, now you'll get rid of me after all."  
"And not a minute too late," Gambit smiled. "Au revoir."  
"Okay, beam us up, Beasty," Peter called.  
A bluish-white light enveloped the two men as Beast activated the beams. The X-Men closed their eyes because of the painful brilliance. When they opened them again Peter and Egon were gone.

* * *

First, Egon Spengler was very confused as to where he was, then he recognized his lab, well, the remnants of his lab. It had worked!  
"Uuuhhh."  
The groan let him whirl round. Peter Venkman stood at his side, looking around the lab with widened eyes.  
"Everything all right, Peter?" Egon asked worriedly, looking the younger man up an down. Peter showed no signs of injury.  
"What a chaos!" Peter exclaimed and shook his head. "I just hope you don't want me to help you clean it, hm?"  
"Yes, I, too, think it's good to be home again," Egon said without moving a muscle.  
Peter laughed. "Same here. Wait till Ray hears all about it. He'll burst with jealousy." He frowned. "That reminds me: if this transporter between dimensions really works that well, can't you send me back? I still have a date with that white-haired beauty."  
"Peter!"  
Peter grinned broadly and looked round. "It is good to be home again! Nothing in the world would get me away from here!"  
"What the hell happened here?"  
The horrified cry made both men turn. Janine Melnitz stood in the doorway, looking around the lab in disbelief. While the other two Ghostbusters had been away she had driven over to her family to pay a short visit. Now her eyes fell on Peter and Egon. Especially Egon who looked like he had dated a wild cat.  
"Oh, Egon! You are hurt!"  
"It's only a scratch," Egon tried to ward off the worried secretary. Jean Grey had treated most of his scratches, disinfecting them. It looked worse than it really was.  
"Oh, thanks, Janine! Yes, I feel just great!" Peter muttered.  
Janine turned and examined the psychologist and after she had made sure Peter was no worse off than Egon she turned back to the physicist.  
"What happened here?"  
"It's a long story .....," Egon started.  
"Which we would like to hear, too," Winston's voice said from the door. The black Ghostbuster shook his head. "Can't we leave you two alone for just a few days without someone trying to level the house?"  
"Days?" Pete echoed. "We've been away for hours at most." He looked at Egon who was deep in thought.  
"It must have been the other dimension." The physicist chewed on his lower lip.  
"I'll go and make some coffee," Janine volunteered. They all would need some. In the meantime the other four went into the living room.  
"Oookayyy." Winston dropped down on to the couch. "What's the explanation for all of that?"  
Peter sat down beside him while Egon remained standing. Ray took a seat, too.  
"Well," Egon started. "It all began when the wall in my lab exploded ...."

* * *

The Player looked over the Black City. He had lost this game, but it wasn't over yet ........


End file.
